historicafandomcom-20200222-history
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (26 September 1936-2 April 2018) was a South African revolutionary and politician who served as Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science, and Technology and First Lady of South Africa from 1994 to 1996 and as a member of parliament from 2009. The former wife of Nelson Mandela, she was known for being more extreme than he was, leading the African National Congress' radical Mandela United FC "football club" while her husband was imprisoned and murdering suspected police informers and enemies of the ANC. She was called "Mother of the Nation" by her supporters, while many others called her a war criminal. Biography Winnie Madikizela was born on 26 September 1936 in Bizana, South Africa to a Xhosa family, the fourth of nine children. Her father Columbus Madikizela was a teacher and the son of a tribal chief, and her mother Gertrude was also a teacher. Winnie Madikizela was a bright student, and she sought to become a nurse, moving to the city of Johannesburg and working at a local hospital with both Afrikaners and Indians. She was inspired by a speech from Nelson Mandela in 1957, attending the rally with two of her Indian friends. Mandela secured a date with Winnie the next week, and Madikizela turned down a scholarship opportunity in the United States so that she could remain in South Africa and join Mandela's cause. They were married in 1958, and they had two daughters: Zenani and Zindzi. Activism In 1963, Nelson Mandela was arrested on charges of sabotage and treason, and Winnie Mandela emerged as a leader of the anti-apartheid movement. She was involved in rallies of her husband's African National Congress, and she was regulary imprisoned, tortured, and served banning orders, and she was exiled to the town of Brandfort in the Orange Free State and not allowed to leave (except for visits to her husband on Robben Island). In 1976, she rescued her daughter Zindzi from death during the Soweto Uprising, which she took part in with other students along with her friend Fudu Buyisiwe, who was killed in the massacre. Winnie and her daughters were later allowed to return to the Soweto township in 1985, where she was nearly killed by two burglars. However, ANC supporter Jerry Musivuzi Richardson chased them off and said that he would become her new bodyguard, and Mandela enjoyed a position of power in Soweto. Richardson formed "Mandela United FC", ostensibly a football club, which served as her security detail; Mandela led this club, which brutally defended her. On 13 April 1986, she called on her supporters to target police informants, and on 6 November 1988 a The Times article claimed that her club terrorized Soweto. On 29 December 1989, her members abducted Stompie Seipei from Paul Verryn's church hostel and murdered him, claiming that he was an informant. In 1991, she would be tried for murder, but she was eventually found guilty of kidnapping. Her six-year jail sentence was reduced due to an appeal, but Nelson Mandela divorced her due to these accusations, as well as the accusations that she had been unfaithful to him. In December 1993 and April 1997 she was president of the ANC's Woman's League, but she was unpopular with many people. She was denied a visa into Canada in 2007, and in 2008 she criticized anti-immigrant violence in Johannesburg. In 2009, she became a member of parliament after the general election, and she served for years as an ANC MP. She died after a year-long illness in 2018. Category:1936 births Category:2018 deaths Category:South African politicians Category:South Africans Category:Politicians Category:Protestants Category:Activists Category:ANC members Category:South African socialists Category:Socialists Category:MK